w4rma
August 14, 2003, 03:41 PM
NEW YORK - More than a year after the two biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history wiped out billions of dollars in assets and workers' pensions at WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp., the chief executives who led those companies remain free of criminal charges.
Bernard Ebbers, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling may never face prosecution, according to former federal prosecutors and securities lawyers.
Federal prosecutors are continuing to investigate Ebbers, the former milkman and bouncer from Alberta, Canada, who in 17 years transformed a small discount-telephone company into WorldCom, the second-biggest U.S. long-distance service.
The former chief executives of Enron - Lay and Skilling - also remain under federal investigation, 19 months after the world's largest energy trader collapsed while owing $67 billion to creditors.
"There is a definite sense that the people most responsible will ultimately never be charged," said Robert A. Mintz, a former assistant U.S. attorney and now a partner at the law firm McCarter & English of Newark, N.J., referring to Ebbers, Skilling and Lay.
…
"Corrupt corporate executives are no better than common thieves whenever they betray their employees and steal from investors," Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference in Washington after Sullivan's arrest.
Ashcroft recused himself from the Enron case after members of Congress said he had received $55,000 in contributions from Enron and Lay in his unsuccessful bid for re-election to the Senate from Missouri.
…
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/6231E9739269012386256D8200126C55?OpenDocument&Headline=Lawyers%3A+WorldCom,+Enron+chiefs+may+never+face+prosecution
Bernard Ebbers, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling may never face prosecution, according to former federal prosecutors and securities lawyers.
Federal prosecutors are continuing to investigate Ebbers, the former milkman and bouncer from Alberta, Canada, who in 17 years transformed a small discount-telephone company into WorldCom, the second-biggest U.S. long-distance service.
The former chief executives of Enron - Lay and Skilling - also remain under federal investigation, 19 months after the world's largest energy trader collapsed while owing $67 billion to creditors.
"There is a definite sense that the people most responsible will ultimately never be charged," said Robert A. Mintz, a former assistant U.S. attorney and now a partner at the law firm McCarter & English of Newark, N.J., referring to Ebbers, Skilling and Lay.
…
"Corrupt corporate executives are no better than common thieves whenever they betray their employees and steal from investors," Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference in Washington after Sullivan's arrest.
Ashcroft recused himself from the Enron case after members of Congress said he had received $55,000 in contributions from Enron and Lay in his unsuccessful bid for re-election to the Senate from Missouri.
…
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/6231E9739269012386256D8200126C55?OpenDocument&Headline=Lawyers%3A+WorldCom,+Enron+chiefs+may+never+face+prosecution